Chechen Village Ringed off after Mine Kills Russian Officers

Russian troops cordoned off a village in eastern Chechnya in a large-scale operation on Saturday after two officers died when their armoured personnel

Russian troops cordoned off a village in eastern Chechnya in a large-scale operation on Saturday after two officers died when their armoured personnel carrier hit a landmine.

No-one was being allowed into or out of the village of Mairtup, near Kurchaloi, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of the capital Grozny, while Russian forces questioned the inhabitants, the Interfax news agency quoted Chechnya's administrative chief Akhmad Kadyrev as saying.

Army spokesman General Vladimir Moltinsky pledged that the attackers would be caught. "Military personnel cannot be killed with impunity," he said of the attack which took place Friday.

"We cannot use the tactic of an eye for an eye, but also we cannot promise a quiet life in Mairtup for the next two weeks," Interfax quoted him as saying.

Separately, three interior ministry troops died and one was wounded after a mine blew up under the jeep they were travelling in on the outskirts of Grozny and rebels lying in wait attacked them, Interfax quoted Chechen security officials as saying.

And three people were wounded when rebels fired grenade launchers at a residential house in the village of Suvorov-Yurt near Gudermes, 30 kilometers (18 miles) east of Grozny, Interfax also reported, quoting Chechen police -- MOSCOW (AFP)